174 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



are complete fertilizers, containing all the elements of plant- 

 food. And, moreover, the land is improved by fertilizers, the 

 same as by manure. In raising my corn with chemicals, I 

 charge the fertilizer to the crop, the same as I do when I use 

 manure, because it has been proved that this fertilizer acts 

 just the same as manure. Where the first crop takes half, 

 the next year it may take half of the remainder, and the 

 remainder the year after. So you can manure for rotation 

 with chemicals as well as you can with dung. That has been 

 proved time and time again. 



Now, under these circumstances, the only question for the 

 farmer is the question of profit. " When I have used all the 

 materials on the farm, and want extra manure, can I buy 

 chemicals cheaper than I can buy barn-yard dung, and can I 

 make a profit?" That is the only question. If he can make 

 a profit, then he can make a successful farmer by tilling all 

 his land which will admit of tillage. 



Dr. Wakefield of Monson. I have instituted a set of 

 experiments this year on some eight or ten crops, at the farm 

 of the State Primary School, for the purpose of ascertaining 

 for myself whether I can afford to buy chemical fertilizers to 

 produce crops. I have the result here. There are some 

 failures and some successes. I have satisfied myself now 

 whether it will be of any use, and when this is submitted, you 

 can draw your own conclusions, as I did. In most respects, 

 I think the results will corroborate the Professor. 



I will first give you the result with onions. My bed of 

 onions is from a third to half an acre. I have used this 

 fertilizer on the same ground, and have compared it with 

 the barn-yard manure which I use ordinarily on my crops. I 

 took one-sixth of an acre and applied one formula, which cost 

 me $6. I raised twenty-five bushels of onions. That is not 

 a great yield. The balance of the ground was manured at the 

 rate of sixteen cords per acre. I make my barn-yard manure 

 as good as I can make it, by combining with it all the urine 

 which it will absorb from the vault. It is as good, I think, 

 as can be got. I have set the price of that at $8 a cord. 

 Then the cost of the manure for an acre of onions would be 

 $96. At the same rate, the barn-yard manure for the one- 

 sixth of an acre where I used the commercial fertilizer would 



